Wonder Working Power in the Precious Blood

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray walked through Mark 16:9-20, one of two passages in the New Testament that appear in brackets or footnotes in many Bible translations. He spent time explaining why those brackets exist and what a reader can trust about the Bible they hold in their hands. The bracketed text in Mark 16 is not the result of a conspiracy or a council secretly removing verses. It comes from a long and...

Read together

1. Mark 16:9-20 the main passage of the sermon, worked through verse by verse
2. Matthew 28:1 cited to confirm the resurrection account agrees with Mark 16:9
3. Luke 8:2-3 cited to confirm Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out and that women supported Jesus and the disciples
4. Matthew 28:18-20 cited as the fuller version of the great commission that Mark 16:15 abbreviates
5. John 3:17-18 cited to show that belief, not baptism, is the condition for salvation, in tension with Mark 16:16
6. Acts 2:1-4 cited to confirm Mark 16:17's promise that believers would speak with new tongues
7. Acts 2:38 cited to show Peter preaching repentance and baptism side by side on the day of Pentecost
8. Acts 3:1-9 cited to confirm Mark 16:18's promise that believers would lay hands on the sick and they would recover
9. Acts 5:16 cited to confirm Mark 16:17's promise about casting out demons and healing the sick
10. Acts 7:54-56 cited to confirm Jesus seated, and in Stephen's case standing, at the right hand of God
11. Acts 22:12-16 cited to show Paul's conversion and Ananias telling him to be baptized and wash away his sins
12. Acts 28:3-6 cited to confirm Mark 16:18's promise about picking up serpents without harm, fulfilled when Paul was bitten by a viper on Malta
13. Colossians 2:9-12 cited to show baptism connected to being buried and raised with Christ through faith
14. Colossians 3:1 cited to confirm Christ is seated at the right hand of God and believers should seek things above
15. Hebrews 10:11-13 cited to confirm Christ sat down at the right hand of God after offering one sacrifice for sins for all time
16. Hebrews 12:1-2 cited to confirm Christ endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God
17. 1 Peter 3:20-22 cited in connection with baptism saving, with Peter's parenthetic clarification that it is an appeal to God for a good conscience
18. James 5:14 cited as the proper foundation for praying for the sick, with elders anointing with oil
19. Luke 10:17-20 cited to show Jesus giving the 72 authority over serpents and scorpions, and telling them to rejoice that their names are in the book of life

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray spent time explaining why some Bibles bracket or footnote passages like Mark 16:9-20, rather than just skipping over them or pretending the question does not exist. How does understanding that kind of transparency affect your confidence in the Bible you hold in your hand?
2. When the disciples heard from Mary Magdalene that Jesus had risen, they refused to believe her, and the same thing happened when the two on the road to Emmaus reported back. Why do you think it was so hard for people who had walked with Jesus to believe the resurrection, and what does that tell us about the nature of faith?
3. Pastor Ray pointed to the thief on the cross and the baptism passages in Acts, Colossians, and 1 Peter side by side, and said belief always comes first while baptism is a step of obedience that follows. Where have you seen that order lived out, or where has the relationship between the two been confusing to you?
4. Pastor Ray said he does not want us to build our theology on the sign gifts listed in Mark 16 while also saying he is not a cessationist and has seen God do miraculous things. How do you personally think about the balance between trusting God for the miraculous and not, as he put it, tempting the Lord your God?
5. The sermon closed with the image of ordinary people going out and preaching everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word. What does that kind of humble, everyday obedience look like practically in your own life right now?